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內戰結束，南方各州亟欲補上廢奴後短缺的人力，便將大量囚犯(尤其黑人囚犯，無論罪刑重大或輕微)投入公共建設，其勞動力更供私人租借。
Loomis來到匹茲堡一間黑人寄宿公寓，在被迫勞動七年後，他終於得以離開Joe Turner手下的苦役隊。他的身體如今雖已重獲自由，奴役歲月留下的創傷，以及揮之不去的疏離感仍牢牢禁錮他的心靈。
原本洋溢生命力的寄宿公寓，也在這位飽受顛沛與折磨的陌生人到來後，逐漸瀰漫緊張與猜忌。
Loomis四處尋找當年失散的妻子，因為只有她，能幫助自己找回昔日的身分及認同。然而，在與公寓中其他住客相處的過程中，他漸漸明白，自己尋覓的，並非只有失聯的妻子，還有在這個嶄新世界中屬於自己的位置。
天地之大，他的位置在哪裡呢？這個答案，恐怕就不是當地那位知名的「尋人者」能幫他找到的了…
1988年躍上百老匯舞台，並於同年獲紐約戲劇評論家協會最佳劇作獎(New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play)，這部普立茲獎得主August Wilson受爵士節奏與精神啟發而寫就的戲劇，以深刻動人的筆觸，描繪二十世紀非裔美國人的生命經驗。
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Fences comes Joe Turner's Come and Gone—Winner of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play.
“The glow accompanying August Wilson’s place in contemporary American theater is fixed.”—Toni Morrison
When Harold Loomis arrives at a black Pittsburgh boardinghouse after seven years' impressed labor on Joe Turner's chain gang, he is a free man—in body. But the scars of his enslavement and a sense of inescapable alienation oppress his spirit still, and the seemingly hospitable rooming house seethes with tension and distrust in the presence of this tormented stranger. Loomis is looking for the wife he left behind, believing that she can help him reclaim his old identity. But through his encounters with the other residents he begins to realize that what he really seeks is his rightful place in a new world—and it will take more than the skill of the local “People Finder” to discover it.
This jazz-influenced drama is a moving narrative of African-American experience in the 20th century.
